Deep Calls to Deep 15th Sunday Ordinary Time – “The evil one snatches away…”
Translating Matthew 13:19 opens a can of worms. How ought we translate the Greek, ponerós? Here’s what the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) does with it in the context of the Parable of the Sower. The NRSV translates the word as “evil one” in a couple other places, too. Yet, ponerós seems to refer to realities other than […]
15th Sunday Ordinary Time – On Getting It…
The Parable of the Sower and its explanation certainly takes up ‘space’ (Matthew 13:1-3) in the first gospel. The picture of discipleship it offers has taken on a greater prominence during my study of it this past week. Let’s focus first on the transition between Jesus’ parable and Matthew’s application of it to his community […]
14th Sunday Ordinary Time – Give a Listen…
I thought I would post my homily from Sunday today. There may be other studies to post, but this will sum up what I would write about. Questions? Please post. Blessings!–roc,sj
14th Sunday Ordinary Time – Seeking & Finding
I was quite surprised to weigh the value of the verb, “to find,” heurisko. It draws so many themes in Matthew together into a network that adds insight to this passage from Sunday’s gospel. Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle & humble in […]
14th Sunday Ordinary Time – “Come to me, all who are weary…”
I’ll lead into the post of my homily by highlighting two key words that I found just fascinatingly different from what I expected. Here is the first. “Come to me…” The Greek, deuete, is most often translated, “Come!” There is one exception that seems interesting and that leads into an informed guess… Matthew 4:18f […]
Thoughts on Independence Day…
God, I’m grateful for the beautiful land, 50 states of remarkable grandeur. I thank you for our founders who established the ideals of democracy, a new impulse in human history which began to be made real in 1776. I offer thanks for the many peoples who have come to the U.S. from so many nations, […]
A Response to: “Should we hold hands or not at the Our Father?”
Oh, this is a perennial issue, isn’t it? And, as NCR points out, there are many reasons pro and con about whether a congregation ought hold hands. They are legion. https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/should-we-hold-hands-or-not-during-our-father I recall this practice appearing at Jesuit College when I was a novice. Perhaps it was 1968 or 1969. Again, to many it seemed […]
O’Connor Memorial Day #28
Today my family remembers our mother, Mary Elizabeth, who died on on this date in 1989 from pneumonia, bone cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. She was weeks short of turning 63. Looking back, she was the delightful, beautiful, and wounded woman who passed on to us the frailties and strengths of her side of the family. […]
Ascension Thursday-on-Sunday (2)
Here is the audio version of my homily from the feast of the Ascension. Besides the presence/absence (connection/abandonment) paradox, I also take up the tension between openness and resistance to Christ’s ascension. The context: the baptism of little Charlotte.
Ascension Thursday-on-Sunday (!)
Here is what I wrote for the Gesu bulletin for this feast. I like it, anyway. Let me know what you think. For a few years not that long ago, I began to think of the feast of the Ascension as a celebration of abandonment, being left in the lurch, or Arnold saying, “I’ll […]
Deep Calls to Deep 